Cross-weaving loom



Nov. 17, 1925- 1,561,627 I J. WILKINSON I CROSS WEAVING LOOM Filed April 13, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 17, 1925.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH WILKINSON, or nesr FAIRI-IAVEN, MASSACHUSETTS.

CRQSS-WEAVING- LOOM.

Application filed April 13, 1925. Serial No. 22,894.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosErH TVILKINSO a citizen of the United States, residing at East Fairhaven, county of Bristol, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cross-Weaving Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to cross-weaving looms and particularly to a novel form of doup heddle and mechanism for operating the lifting frames for operating the doup heddles.

In many cross-weaving looms the old type of yarn doup has been replaced by a metal doup heddle. The mechanism for crossing the metal doup heddle includes two lifting frames which alternately raise the doup heddle on opposite sides of the cross warp thread, the doup heddle being lowered by a depressing frame having two horizontal bars, called leveling rods, which pass thru eyes at the lower end of the doup heddle.

One of the well-known types of doup heddle now in use is that in which an inverted U-shaped metal needle hereinafter referred to as a doup needle, is provided with a doup-thread eye at its upper end and an enlarged portion at the lower end of each leg, each enlarged portion having an aperture thru which the horizontal bars of a depressing or leveling frame are passed. The area of one of these apertures is approximately the same as the. cross-sectional area of one of the horizontal bars of the depressing frame. For this reason, no play between the needle and depressing frame is permitted and when one ofthe lifting frames raises the doup needle the depressing frame is also raised. The depressing frame, as a rule, is provided with springs for returning it to normal position when the lifting frame is lowered, carrying with it the doup needle. One of the objects of this invention is to provide a. doup needle having elongated eyes at its lower end to permit the doup needle to be raised or lowered by pattern threads while the depressing frame is raised above its normal position. Another object of the invention is to provide means for elevating the depressing frame when it is desired to weave figure threads into the design of the fabric. Still another object is to provide means for lifting the doup needles above the ground threads while the latter are being lowered for the/purpose of preventing fouling of the ground threads as they pass each other. Other objects will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a cross weaving loom provided with the improve ments of this invention, parts of the loom being omitted for clearness of illustration;

Figure 2 is a perspective View of the heddles and leveling rods shown in Figure 1, but in another position; and

Figure 3 is a view of the improved form of doup needle in elevation.

Referring to Figure 1, the lifting frame 10 is connected by means of harness straps 11 to a dobby mechanism (not shown) which raises the frame 10 on each alternate pick. The lifting frame 12 is raised and lowered by mechanism to be described hereinafter. The doup needle 16 is provided at its upper end with an eye 17 thru which passes the doup end a. At its lower end each leg of the doup needle is provided with an elongated aperture 19 thru which pass the horizontal depressing or leveling rods 20. The leveling rods are held down in their normal position by coil springs 21. The lifting heddles 22, 23, are of the common type formed from two metal strips, the doup needle being guided between the strips and raised by the lifting heddles when the latter are elevated. It is to be understood, of course, that there is a doup needle for each doup thread and a corresponding number of lifting heddles for the doup needles, but to simplify the explanation of the operation of the loom only one set of doup needles will be described, Ground heddles 18, 18 are provided for raising and lowering the ground or cross ends, as, y.

Mounted on a shaft 24, which is driven by gears (not shown), is a cam 25 having a depression 27 on its periphery. The harness lever 18 is connected to the lower side of frame 12 by a harness strap 15 and is provided with a roller 30 which rides on the cam 25. Coil springs 31 attached to the upper end of the heddle frame and connected to fixed points on the loom frame exert a lifting force on the frame 12 as the roller 30 enters the depression in the periphery of the cam, thus elevating the frame 12 and the doup needle 16. The cam 25 is secured to the cam shaft by a suitable set screw arrangement and may be fixed at a desired 0- sition with respect to the dobby mechamsm to raise the frame 12 at the desired time. The cam shaft makes one revolution every two picks and the cut-out portion of the cam extends thru 90 of the circumference, so that the lifting and lowering of the frame 12 consumes one-half the time between succeeding picks. I

The operation of the lifting frames will now be explained. The frame 10 is first elevated in the usual manner by a dobby lever. At this time the roller 30 on the lever 13 is riding on the periphery of the cam at its greatest radius so that the frame 12 is in its lowest position. The ground threads a', form an open shed. After the shuttle has been thrown on the first pick the frame 10 is lowered by springs 14, which are fastened to the loom frame, the dobby lever controlling this lifting frame having been rocked inwardly. Before the ground threads have reached their central position the roller on lever 13 rides into the depression on cam 25, thus elevating the frame 12. The depression 27 is only deep enough to permit the doup needle to be raised approximately two-thirds its full height. Before the second shed has been completed the cam again lowers the frame 12 and with it the doup needles 16.

As the second shed is completed and the shuttle is about to be thrown the leveling rods 20 are raised, but the frames 10, 12, remain in their lowermost positions. It is now possible, due to the elongated slots in the doup needles, to raise any number of doup needles to form a predetermined pattern or figure, the threads passing thru the doup needles being lifted by heddles 36, 37, of which there may be any number, according to the intricacy of the design to be woven.

Heretofore, in the types of cross-weaving looms in which metal doup needles were used, it became necessary when patterns were to be woven into the fabric to employ extra lifting frames to raise the doup needles which carried the pattern threads. This was necessary because some of the doup needles were raised while others .werelowered. In the present invention, the doup needles on a single frame may be raised or lowered independently of each other by means of standard heddles. To permit free up and down movement of the doup needles, the leveling frames are elevated to a position midway between the upper and lower limits of travel of the doup needles. The mechanism for lifting the leveling rods comprises. the dobby levers 32, 33, the double hook yoke 34, and the cords or straps 35 which are attached to the leveling rods. The dobby lever 32 will move downwardly while the lever 33 is moving upwardly and on the next. pick the directions of the movements are reversed, The double hook yoke 34 is connected by means of the strap 35 to the leveling rods 20, which are elevated at each pick in the well-known manner, the yoke being engaged by the upwardly moving dobby lever as the two dobby levers pass each other. Ordinarily, in weaving plain gauze, all of the doup needles are raised at the same time by the lifting frames, the leveling rods being elevated with the doup needles, and, as the leveling rods are de pressed, they lower all of the doup needles.

It is sometimes desirable to weave a figure in the gauze but, since all of the doup-needles move in unison in the presenttype of leno looms employing metal doup needles, the doup ends cannot be raised with respect to each other. A doup needle having elongated eyes as described above, permits some of the doup ends to be held in an elevated position while other doup ends are lowered so that a shed may be made by standard heddles'disposed in back of the lifting frames.

Referring to Figure 2, it will be seen that the leveling rods 20 are in an elevated position and that the doup needle 16 is in its uppermost position. At the same time the doup heddle 16 is in its lowermost position as are also the lifting frames-10, 12. The doup ends a; and Z) pass thru eyes: in the standard heddles 36, 37, respectively. By properly pegging the pattern chain on the dobby head one or more of the standard heddles thru which the doup ends pass may be raised while one ormore standard heddles may lower other doup ends, the movements of the doupneedles being independent of each other. These positions of the doup needles are possible due to the elongated slots in their legs which permit movement of the doup needles independently of the leveling rods while the latter are in their elevated position. It is thus possible to hold some of the doup endsat the top of the shed after the lifting frames have been lowered, the doup ends being held up by the standard heddle. Since the leveling rods are elevated they will not draw the raised doup needles down to their lower position. The remaining doup ends will be lowered by a second standard heddle. Other standard heddles may be added, according to the intricacy of the design or pattern.

It is to be understood, of course, that the shed is formed by standard heddles when figured cloth is to be woven, these heddles being necessary because the leveling rods do not lower the doup needles. The doup ends support the doup needles during this phase of the operation of the loom, the doup needles being free to move with respect to the lifting frames and leveling rods while the standard heddles are forming the shed. Since the doup needles in the usual type of loom must move up and down with the leveling rods and move together in one direction or the other, it is apparent that a loom employing doup needles and leveling rods as described above has many advantages, since the doup ends may be raised or lowered with respect; to each other.

lhe purpose of elevating the frame 12 immediately preceding the second pick is to prevent fouling of the ground threads during the formation of the second shed. It has been found in practice needles and ground threads are lowered together the needles will foul the ground threads as the latter pass each other. For this reason it is desirable to maintain the doup needles in an elevated position until the ground threads have passed each other. Before the second shed has been completed the cam returns the doup needles to their lowermost position so that selection of the pattern threads may be made.

\Vhile the specific embodiment of the invention as illustrated shows a simple crossweaving loom it is apparent that certain modifications and combinations may be made to suit the requirements of various types of weaving. It is possible, for instance,.to obtain certain results which heretofore required jacquard mechanisms, such as combination cross and open weaving. By combining two sets of needles as described above it is possible to weave cross sheds and open sheds simultaneously. The invention is not limited to one or two ground threads since it is apparent that more ground threads may be used without affecting the operation of mechanism as described.

Although the invention has been described in detail, it is to be understood that it is not thus limited but includes such modifications and changes as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a loom for cross weaving, in combination, a plurality of doup needles having an elongated aperture in each of their legs, a pair of lifting frames for raising said that if the doup doup needles, means for raising and lowering said lifting frames, leveling rods passing thru the apertures in the legs of said doup needles, and means for raising said leveling rods to an elevated position, whereby some of said doup needles may be raised while others of said doup needles are lowered.

2. In a loom for cross weaving, in combination, a plurality of doup needles having an elongatedv aperture in each of their legs, a pair of lifting frames for raising said doup needles, means for raising and lowering said lifting frames, leveling rods passing thru the apertures in the legs of said doup needles, dobby mechanism for raising said leveling rods to an elevated position, and heddles for raising and lowering the doup ends, whereby some of said doup ends may be lowered while others of said doup ends are raised.

3. In a loom for cross weaving, in combination, a plurality of doup needles, means for raising said doup needles, leveling rods for lowering said doup needles, means for raising and lowering said leveling rods, said doup needles having elongated apertured portions at one end thru which said leveling rods pass, said apertured portions having a length greater than the vertical travel of said leveling rods, whereby the doup needles may be lowered when the leveling rods are in elevated position.

l. As an articleof manufacture, a U- shaped metal doup needle having an elongated aperture atone end of each leg and an apertured portion connecting the other ends of said legs.

5. As an article of manufacture, a U-- shaped doup needle having elongated apertured portions at one end of each leg, said apertured portions being substantially half the length of the doup needle, and an aper tured portion connecting the other ends of said legs.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

JOSEPH WILKIN SON. 

